Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday signed the Russia-Belarus treaty on mutual security guarantees, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
The document contains bilateral obligations to ensure each other’s security, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, touting the treaty as “the highest level of alliance-related activity.”
This is “an action plan to tackle a real threat to the sovereignty of the Union State’s one or both members states,” Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Boris Gryzlov earlier told Sputnik.
A treaty provision allows for the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus to counter potential Western provocations against the Union State. This deployment aligns with Russia's updated nuclear doctrine, which stipulates a nuclear response to any attack on Belarus as a member of the Union State.
In other words, Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if conventional attacks against Russia and (or) Belarus as members of the Union State, which poses “a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) territorial integrity.” This reflects Lukashenko's past assertion that Minsk requires assurances of Russian defense, treating an attack on Belarus as an attack on Russian territory.
The signing ceremony was held on the sidelines of the Supreme State Council of the Union State.
The presidents also signed an agreement on common electricity market.